“I'm a Hanson boy, I don't cry! You can't really cry at Total Recall or Twister, can you? I only watch action films. I'm really looking forward to seeing that new George Clooney movie. I don't think I'll cry at that.”

--Zak

A year ago (1996), just before the holiday season began, the boys released a holiday album entitled Snowed In. The album was co-produced by Hanson and Mark Hudson and was recorded on the outskirts of London in September and October.

Snowed In features a combination of holiday classics as well as several tracks the band wrote specifically for the album. Each Han-Man got to pick his favorite Christmas carol of all time to perform!On November 25th, the group released a long-form video entitled Tulsa, Tokyo & The Middle of Nowhere. The feature length documentary includes behind-the-scenes footage of Hanson from their worldwide promotional tour, live performance footage and video clips of their three hit singles, "MMMBop," "Where's the Love" and "I Will Come to You."

We caught up with the guys as they were planning their tour for the first quarter of '98, doing full-fledged gigs, not just the brief promotional appearances they'd been doing since they first got hot in March of last year.

Q: We are very glad to have you all here—let's start out on questions right away. Before we get started, guys, let's open with a couple of standard questions. Is there an address where your fans can write to get pictures?

Isaac: In subtle ways. We like listening; and they get us excited about doing music. The music that most influenced us as performers and song writers was early rock and roll and R&B.

Q: Are you planning on moving out of Tulsa anytime soon?

Zac: No. Tulsa is home!

Q: Here's two questions, actually: Have you ever made a funny home video with your camera, Isaac, and when you guys went trick-or-treating for Halloween, what was your favorite costume?

Isaac: I made a funny home video including one called What The Hansons Did Last Thanksgiving, shot last Thanksgiving Day. As for Halloween, nothing sticks out. We've done lots of fun things at Halloween.

Q: Are you going to release "A Minute Without You" as a single?

Taylor: Maybe. It's up to the label a lot of times. The next single goes on sale today... I Will Come to You with an unreleased track entitled Cried. We hope you all like it. And no decision has been made on a single after that. Maybe Man From Milwaee.

Zac: What do you think the next one should be? Let us know at our Website!

Q: How long have you been home-schooled?

Isaac: We've done some school, but very little. Mostly been home schooled. We like "self directed education."

Q: What's the name of the official Hanson biography, and what does the cover looks like?

Isaac: The cover is a picture of the three of us from one of our photo sessions. The title is Hanson: The Official Book. It's big, 8-1/2" x 11" in size. For the record, we have nothing to do with the other books on the market. They never talked to us, and some information is incorrect. One of our best friends wrote this one for us and we edited it. Sorry to tell you...you won't be able to find out what color underwear we wear.

Taylor: So, the Official Book, is the official book. Thanks, Isaac.

Q: Was the Toronto show really the loudest the girls have gotten? And what happened at the Chicago show? I heard that you guys seemed to just stop during Thinking Of You.

Isaac: According to the sound meter at the Toronto show...yeah. It was the loudest we ever experienced. We were at 140 decibels and the loudest in the Guinness book is 126 at a Who concert.

Taylor: As for the Chicago show, there were sound problems. We didn't stop, we just didn't get through on the sound system. Then it came back on.

Q: What are some of your favorite things to do with your family when you're not performing?

Isaac: Painting and writing on the wall of our studio. There's actually scenes of that wall in the video. Eight ball, laser quest, motorcycles, dirt bikes, we spend a lot of time painting the wall of our studio.

Q: What is it that fans do to annoy you?

Taylor: We love the fans, they don't annoy us, but sometimes they scream really, really loud. The only times that the screaming bothers us is when we're trying to play.

Zac: Sometimes we can't hear ourselves think.

Q: Is it true your mother is going to have a baby soon?

Isaac: Yes, she is. She's going to have a baby at the beginning of the new year. It will be Hanson #7.>

Q: I was wondering if you listen to any ska and if you like to hacky-sack.

Taylor: Great question. Except for school, music is our number one priority.

Q: When was the last time you cried?

Taylor: Last time we did an interview! Do we cry at movies? No, we watch action movies and we don't cry at Arnold Characterized!

Isaac: I can't remember the last time I cried, I must have been really young. I've never cried at a movie or at a TV show. I'm not a guy who cries easily.

Zac: I'm a Hanson boy, I don't cry! You can't really cry at Total Recall or Twister, can you? I only watch action films. I'm really looking forward to seeing that new George Colony movie. I don't think I'll cry at that.

Q: Have you ever trashed a hotel room?

Taylor: Yeah, but only because we are really messy. We never keep our rooms clean. We leave clothes everywhere and our skates are always lying in the floor. People always trip over them.

Isaac: We all share a room at home and it looks like we've trashed it even though we haven't—it's just messy. I'm trying to learn to be tidier but it's hard when you travel 'cos you live out of a suitcase. It's nice to go home and leave things on the floor.

Zac: Noon! Although the whole Hanson family went to the big Doc Marten shoe store in London and we all bought some boots. So every time you come into our hotel room all you can see is different-colored boots everywhere. It's awesome.

Q: Have you ever been thrown out of anywhere?

Taylor: Yeah, we were thrown out of a toy store last year. They had a display of really bouncy balls and we were allowed to try them out. We ended up bouncing them all over the shop and off the ceiling. All the store assistants kept telling us to calm down. In the end we were asked to leave. What did they expect us to do? Not throw the balls after they had asked us to?

Isaac: Yep. A shopping mall in Oklahoma. We were messing around with some friends the day after we were number one in America about a year ago. There were 10 of us talking and messing around when this security guard says to us, "You can't be in more than groups of four without an adult." Then he threw us out. We were so shocked.

Zac: I've been thrown out of places with the others but never on my own. So far we've never been thrown out of places where people know who we are—it's only because we've been boys goofing around.

Q: Have you ever broken a bone?

Taylor: I broke my arm about three years ago. I was going down this huge hill on my bike to see a house my parents were going to buy. They were driving up the hill as I was coming down and I saw the car heading towards me I braked and went straight over the handlebars. I lay in the road while my parents rushed over and picked me up. I looked at my arm and it had just snapped.

Isaac: No, but I did badly sprain my ankle about two years ago. I was climbing a plum tree and just fell out and tried to land on my feet. My ankle gave way and it swelled up. The doctors thought I had broken it but it was just really badly bruised. What was I doing in the tree? Hmm, I not sure.

Zac: I broke my nose when we were firing rocks off a see-saw. We put a rock on one end and then jumped on the other—the rock would go flying across the yard. I put the rock on and then Taylor whacked the other end down and somehow it hit me in the nose. There was blood everywhere.

Q: Do you like being chased by your fans?

Taylor: I get really embarrassed. We were at McDonald's last week and we were waiting to order our food. All of a sudden there was whispering going up and down the line and people were saying, "Hallucinator." No one said anything to me, they just whispered and I was just standing there. In the end I got my food and ran out.

Isaac: When we were filming Top of the Pops in London for the first time, there were 60 fans waiting for us and screaming. We couldn't believe it 'cos they all knew our names and were yelling at us. We almost thought we had hit somebody because there was all these kids jumping in front of the van. I find that really scary.

Zac: I find it weird when fans scream at us because they want to meet us. When we actually go over and talk to them they say nothing. They just look at us and go, "Term, mu." That's weird.

Q: If you were asked to wear see-through trousers on stage, would you?

Isaac: No way. I don't do anything we feel uncomfortable with, and that would be really uncomfortable.

Taylor: Unless I thought they were cool. If we don't like something we'll say no way and put something else on. We have a stylist who buys our clothes, but we're always saying we don't like what she gives us.